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This was my second year running the Kelly St. Patrick’s Day 5k put on by the very best place ever, Charm City Run, and just like the last time I did this race (in 2014), there was so much green out there that I felt like everything else I looked at for the rest of the day had a green tint to it. Or that could have been the shot of Jameson I did at the finish line party. I’ve been pretending to be Irish a lot this week.

Anyway, this is one of those odd races that starts in the middle of the afternoon, but I have to admit that I was thankful for the extra sleep what with the time change and everything. My friend Suzanne showed up at my house mid-morning and we went to a local diner for a breakfast that I instantly regretted eating as soon as we got downtown and started warming up. Luckily we were early enough that I had a bit of time to digest my eggs and toast before the 1:15 start.

I already didn’t have much of a goal for the race when I got there, but after some rain moved through and my heel was giving me some issues, I decided that this one was mostly just going to be for fun. The first half mile or so is exclusively downhill and the street was VERY slick. As we waited for the air horn I discussed with people around me – some of whom appeared to already be pretty drunk and no offense, but I just don’t see the fun in running any kind of distance when you’re drunk – how stepping on manhole covers just then could lead to broken ankles. We heard the National Anthem and then we were off!

I’m not going to lie; as nice as that downhill start is it is also somewhat frustrating because literally 5,000 people run this race and Charles Street is super narrow right there. And EVERYONE wants to be in the front regardless of whether they are runners or walkers. I had better luck this time, but it was still a slow-go for a bit as I nearly tripped over groups of friends that were walking together.

The course is downhill to flat-ish, from Charles Street to Key Highway – which probably means nothing to most of the people who read my blog – then turns back toward downtown and ends at the Power Plant Live complex and an ENORMOUS green party (pictured above). I found a nice, comfortable pace for pretty much the whole thing and enjoyed the actual race part much more than before because I took the time to check out my surroundings. My favorite part was people watching after the turn around point…it’s like a huge party in the street and I could tell that everyone was having a blast. One of my least favorite things is whatever the heck happened with my GPS. I don’t know if it freaks out because of all the big buildings or if I’m really running longer than a 5K, but my distance has been longer both years I ran this race. And this year my first mile clocked in at around 5:55. I know mile 1 was my fastest, but I am fairly certain that it wasn’t 5-minute mile fast!

Even though I wasn’t killing myself, I still bested my 2014 time by about 30 seconds.

My official chip time was 22:26. I took some green beads that a girl handed me at the finish line and it was time to find my friends and party!

This race is VERY popular and I saw many people that I knew. Because I didn’t have Betty last weekend I could actually hang out for awhile and man was it FUN! Live bands, a nice spread of snacks, beer (of course), and lots and lots of happy runners.

I especially love how thrilled we look as compared to the miserable looking people behind us. My friend Jarrod’s watch also told him that he had run a sub-6 first mile. We like to think it’s true.

I remember being sort of grumpy after this one in the past – maybe because my dumba$$ decided that wearing a wool kilt would be a cool idea which it was NOT – but after a MUCH better experience this time around I will definitely be signing up for this race next year. Charm City really is tops at organizing big events like this. Small annoyances aside, it really couldn’t have been a better day, despite the pouring rain that moved through as the party came to a close.

Did you run a St. Patrick’s Day race this year? How did it go? How do you feel about getting drunk before running?

I hope everyone had a very lucky day yesterday and that you all have a fantastic weekend!

I’m just going to come out and say it…I have been kind of a train wreck lately. Life hasn’t been particularly wonderful to me and now I’m trying to refocus my energy. I won’t bore you with any icky details, but at least two things have remained constantly good: my awesome kiddo who loves me so much that sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve her and marathon training. At first I was on the fence about signing up for a big fall race, but now I’m so glad I did. Without the training to focus on, I feel like I might be a lot worse off than I am.

Anyway, Week 7 went just fine and week 8 went even better albeit the fact that I ran on the treadmill more than was probably necessary. It was my biggest mileage week since right around New Jersey. The amount of stressed out I am usually corresponds directly with my mileage total. Here’s how it all shaped up:

Monday, September 14: 3 easy miles on the treadmill and about half of a BodyPump class.

Tuesday, September 15: One of the highlights of my week: my first intervals since the middle of the summer! Half mile warm up, 6×400’s with recovery at 7:17 overall pace, and a half mile cool down.

Wednesday, September 16: 7 miles on the treadmill. I told you it was a lot of treadmill this week. This run was solid and I was pretty proud of myself for getting it knocked out before I had to be at work.

Thursday, September 17: 4 miles (treadmill yet again) and then another half of a BodyPump class. It kind of sucks that I can only stay for the first part during the week, but at least I get to escape before lunges. The only thing I hate more than lunges is burpees. And bacon.

Friday, September 18: My regularly scheduled rest day.

Saturday, September 19:

Foot selfie of epic proportions! This was my 12 mile long run with three super great friends and hanging with them on the trail that day was perfect for my soul. I laughed and smiled so much that not only did my legs hurt afterward, but my face kind of did too. Smiling and laughing and running rocks. I need more of all three of those things in my life.

Sunday, September 20: I FINALLY got to take an entire BodyPump class, but before that I ran 2 miles and then followed the class up with 2 more miles on the treadmill. This was definitely a workout combination that I want to try again.

Total Mileage: 34Grade: A

My main focus this week is a half marathon on Saturday, but I also want to work on being a more relaxed person in general. More happy, less worry. Not only will that be better for me in the long run, but for everyone else around me too. This sounds like something that I’ve said before (on here and in real time), but it’s about time I really took action on it.

Do you tend to run or work out more often when you’re in a funk? When was the last time you had a great group run?

This past weekend was one of my most favorite races…the Baltimore-famous Charles Street 12! I had been looking forward to this one all summer long as my first goal race of the fall season. It was my second year running it and my first year running it without an injury. Because of this I had hopes of grabbing myself a shiny new PR along with the awesome shiny medal at the end.

There was an interesting twist to this race for me though. As I mentioned here, I had been contacted by my friend at Charm City Run and Under Armour a couple days prior asking if I could help them out with some marketing stuff. By that they meant they wanted to dress me in head to toe UA gear and live track me along the course so they could take my picture. Maybe they could also provide me with an Under Armour paper bag to breathe in because initially the thought of it sort of made me feel like hyperventilating.

Friday I visited the Timonium store to pick up my packet, premium (a comfortable thermal shirt), and an outfit to wear. Head to toe meant headband, sports bra, top, shorts…and shoes. Yep. I would be breaking in a brand new pair of Speedform Gemini on this run. Not quite the ideal footwear situation, but I wasn’t as terrified as I could have been. I already have a pair of these shoes so I’m familiar with how they fit my feet and and ran a 14 mile training run in the other ones shortly after receiving them.

As usual, packet pick up was a breeze and I was beyond excited as I laid out my flat self the night before. MY FIRST PAIR OF PURPLE SHOES. Just in time for football season!

Uncharacteristically I slept really well the night before. I woke up at 5am to go out for coffee and then my mom and Betty dropped me at the starting line right around 6:30. The bus transportation is great and I had considered taking it again this year, but because I live right up the street it was much more convenient that way. I managed to run into quite a few of my friends as I milled around Kenilworth looking for the folks from Under Armour. I would need to hook up with their photographer on Map My Run so that he would be able to pinpoint my whereabouts. They were all SO nice. Just when I thought I couldn’t love Under Armour any more, they have the coolest people on the planet working for them and it makes it that much better.

My goal for this race was to do better than last year (1:41:50). I noticed that they had pacers. Was that new? Maybe I just didn’t see them last year because I was too preoccupied with my foot. Anyway I went over to talk to a few of them and before I knew it I was saying “Oh yeah I’ll run with the 1:35 group!” Which would be 6 minutes off my time from last year. On the longest distance I had run since April. In shoes that I had just put on for the first time 12 hours earlier. Dream big.

The race was set to start at 7:30 and the weather could not have been more perfect: right around 70 degrees, overcast, and a light breeze. With about 15 minutes left I figured I’d make a bathroom pit stop and yeah…I should have left myself more time. I scrambled my way to the start as they were singing the National Anthem and I could see the 1:35 pace sign waaaaaaaay up ahead with no way to get to it unless I was super rude and pushed through the sea of people. I decided to try and catch up if I could, but if not no big deal.

The start was very crowded. Because I was way in the back, I had to do a lot of bobbing and weaving, but by the time I got up to the end of Kenilworth Drive I had found some room to run. At the corner I saw that the 1:35 pacer had ditched his sign on the side of the road so then I was on the look out for their bright yellow shirts instead. I was kind of on a mission at that point and knew that I was probably going out WAY too fast, but I wanted to catch up with the group. And I did right around the end of mile 2! At that point I was able to relax and recover little bit.

Let’s revisit the elevation profile I posted of this race from last year:

Lots of downhill as you can see, but there are some deceiving uphill sections strewn throughout. Luckily the worst of the icky climbs are at the beginning and having run this course once before and driven it about a billion times I knew all the places where I would get a little bit of a break. There seemed to be more spectators out this year which was awesome and encouraging. There also seemed to be an equal amount of very angry drivers. If you aren’t familiar with Baltimore, Charles Street is a major road and I am still amazed that the organizers of this race have logistically been able to make this happen three years in a row.

This was such a happy run for me. I cruised along with the pace group, enjoying the scenery and thanking the police officers at the intersections we crossed over. Those men and women had their work cut out for them! The miles felt like they were flying by. Water stops were well-spaced and stocked with the obvious water, Gatorade, and friendly volunteers. I’m always glad when I don’t have to carry a bottle with me.

As we got into the more downtown areas of the city I spotted the photographer that was tracking me a couple times and each time I reminded myself to try and look as non-hideous as I could. As I’m sure you all know, this is damn near impossible in race photos so I hope they came out okay. If not, maybe they can work some Photoshop magic.

Last year it was all aboard the struggle bus for me at mile 9, but this time mile 9 felt just fine and so did mile 10. Then…mile 11. By the time mile 11 rolls around the course is much more flat. It’s amazing how hard this can be on your legs after all the hills. Just like last year I felt a little like my quads had gone through a meat grinder. I had fallen off the back of the pace group, but I wasn’t worried about it because I had a good time cushion from booking after them in the beginning of the race and I was still well ahead of my time from last year. Once the Inner Harbor promenade came into view, I managed to pulled myself together. I LOVE running through there and I know I had a big doofy smile on my face the whole time. Not just because the race photographers had big signs up telling us to SMILE although I’m sure that does help.

The Under Armour photographer caught up with me one final time as I was about to head up to Pratt Street and the final stretch. There were lots of spectators out now and the energy was fantastic. The best part?? As I crossed the finish line my friend Normailed who I hadn’t seen in years was there volunteering and handing out medals!! She didn’t even care that I was a sweaty mess (or if she did she didn’t let on) and gave me the biggest hug. It was such a cool moment and the perfect way to end a race.

And I got that PR that I wanted so badly…more than a 6 minute improvement over last year!

1:35:47

The finish party was great just as I expected it would be. They had boxed meals for all the runners, a live band playing, and of course the beer that I got and then didn’t drink because that’s how I roll. Under Armour had set up a cool VIP area upstairs that I visited for awhile and the food was outstanding. I was able to catch up with a few friends too!

Lisa from Running Out of Wine!!Sara from Sweaty Mess Mama!!My friend Jarrod and this picture cracks me up. Here’s how you hug people when you are extra sweaty and gross. Awkwaaaaard.

I also ran into Lauren and I know that Amber and Stacey were there someplace, but I missed them both. Many non-blogger friends were running on Saturday too and it was wonderful to catch up with some of them. You guys are all so great!

I just can’t say enough positive things about this year’s Charles Street 12. From the perfect weather, to the impeccably planned race, to the post-race festivities, and of course the extreme generosity of Under Armour and Charm City Run, the day could not have been better. This one is really worth traveling for if you are an out of towner and I know I’ll be doing it again next year.

Did you race last weekend? How did it go? Have you ever done a 12 mile race? Or one that is primarily downhill? Beer at the finish line…yay or nay?

I hope everyone had a great, safe holiday!

xo,

Salt

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Hello!

Mom, graphic designer, yogi, and runner {always in progress}. Fluent in sarcasm. Running shoe and lip gloss hoarder. Loves wine, coffee, power tools, and horror movies. Spends WAY too much money at Target. Sharing my journey one mile at a time and hoping that I can motivate others along the way!

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